Bahrain GP - Race: Hamilton wins the first race of the season, after close battle with Verstappen.

Lewis Hamilton wins the Bahrain GP, accompanied by Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas on the podium.

Formation Lap: Sergio Perez's car had an engine problem on his way to the starting grid so he had to start from the end of the pit lane.

Race Start: Nikita Mazepin spun on turn 3 and had contact with the wall, which resulted a safety car deployment and his retirement from the race.

Lap 4: Pierre Gasly lost his front wing in a battle with Daniel Ricciardo, which resulted another safety car deployment.

Lap 34: Fernando Alonso suffered a rear brake failure due to some debris being trapped in the brake duct, which caused it to overheat, according to the team, and forced him to retire.

Lap 43: Lewis Hamilton set a new F1 record of most laps lead, with 5112 race laps lead in his career.

Lap 45: Sebastian Vettel locked up behind Esteban Ocon, they contacted at turn 1.

Lap 56: Valtteri Bottas sets the fastest lap of the race.

It was a very close battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen throughout the race. Most crucial moment of their battle for the win was definetely Verstappen's overtake on Hamilton on Lap 53 where he took the position off the race track so he had to pull over and let Hamilton back through, resulting Hamilton's win.

Both McLaren drivers in the top 10, with Lando Norris in 4th and Daniel Ricciardo in 7th, splitted by Sergio Perez, who managed to finish in P5, starting last after his formation lap engine problem, and Charles Lercerc in 6th, whose team mate, Carlos Sainz, finished 8th. Completing the top 10, Yuki Tsunoda in P9 on his debut F1 race, and Lance Stroll in P10.

Full Race Classification:

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